It's Finally Over!

Happy Friday Friends,

I spent the better part of the past 4 months looking for a new career opportunity. For those that have been reading since my first post, you’ll know it wasn’t an easy journey. To be more specific it was like being on a rollercoaster with Pennywise as the controller.

Last week I received an offer to join an awesome company and I accepted. This week’s post may be a little different from my others. I’m going to share my interviewing experiences and a few takeaway learnings.

14 companies.35+ interviews. 15 Heads of People10 C-suite executives13 Co-foundersNo matter how you look at it, that is a shit-ton of talking! 

A friend of mine commented at one point that my “interview cadence was insane.” To add a little spice to the mix, all the above was during Covid lockdown. So all meetings and interviews were video calls.

It was crazy and it was exhausting. I burned myself out. I was emotionally done.

I’ve re-read some of my journal entries from this time and there seems to be a few key themes that emerged.

Lots of listening.Too much ego.Too little humility.Lots of confusion.Some disappointment.Too much ego, too little humility

I definitely don’t know everything. In fact, the more experienced I get in life the more I realise how little I know. I have been working for 20+ years across a variety of roles, businesses and continents. That means that I am experienced by default of time. I have a decent amount of history to call upon.

I met a handful of co-founders over the past few months who were young. Which is awesome. I congratulate them for founding businesses and getting a lot right to get them to where they are. But, being a founder doesn’t mean you know everything. Even if your ego may convince you otherwise. It seems that one way to cope with less life experience than someone you’re interviewing is to rely on your ego.

Ego may have been part of what got them this far but, ego is a terrible substitute for knowledge and experience.

The smartest founders and CEOs I met understand their weaknesses. And, acknowledge their blind spots. Then they hire people smarter than them to plug those holes. Which in turn makes for a stronger foundation to build a successful business.

Lots of confusion

The hiring process is relatively simple. Yet for the candidate, it is often confusing. Maybe it’s my process-driven brain but there should be a roadmap outlined for candidates.

A simple timeline of what's to come and when.

Step 1:  First interview (recruiter) Step 2:  2nd interview (HR)Step 3:  3rd interview (the hiring manager)Step 4:  Negotiation)Step 5:  Offer letter

Then, put some rough timelines against the steps and “magic”! You’ve got yourself a simple plan. The candidate can manage their expectations and anxiety levels. More importantly, as a company, you show that you care about peoples' wellbeing from day one. Even if they aren’t employed yet. 

Disappointment

I'd get approached by or introduced to a company. I would do some research and decide that their product was exciting and would be cool to work on. Then, I’d interview with a handful of execs and have interesting, inspiring conversations. 

Then, I meet with the founders or CEO. Again, have a good discussion and end the call excited about the opportunity. Cool people solving cool problems. There isn’t much more I want from a great opportunity.

I am almost all-in at this point. I want to take big gulps of the cool-aid.

But, then I get THE email. It’s never a call! It feels just like getting that text from someone you thought you were going to get serious about. Then they broke your heart right before you asked to be exclusive.

I get “thanked” for my time (5-6 hours worth by this point). And get very vague feedback, if any, on why they made that decision.That’s a lot of time and energy invested into something that came to nothing. I was sometimes lucky to connect with a few cool humans and grow my network. But, all I have to show for the process was a day of feeling down and doubting myself.

I learned about myself

After every interaction or group of interactions, I made sure to make notes in my journal. I made notes on how the meeting made me feel. I reviewed my responses to their comments. I questioned my knowledge on a few topics.

I was as diligent on the retrospective review as I was about making sure each company would match my values.I realise now that most of those steps that I was taking were necessary for me. I needed to learn more about myself and the types of people I wanted to work with. I had some growing to do and after every disappointment, I became more resilient.

I didn’t compromise on my values

Some friends have asked me how I know that this current company is the right one. It’s a valid question. Especially when I met with so many. Of course, I cannot be 100% sure. But, I am sure that it checks all five of my value boxes. There weren’t many if any, others that did the same.

The most important lesson was finding, accepting and sticking to my values. I used them as guiding principles to help me make some tough, gut-check decisions. I wrote a piece on values a while back if you want more detail on that topic.

Although it didn't feel it. I know this was a very short chapter of my life. I am relieved it's done and I am definitely enriched by the process. And, I have added these notes to my management playbook. So, I can now pay forward these experiences to my teams and the people I’ll be hiring in the future.

Enjoy the weekend. Be present and spend time with those you love.

Peace, love and muscles.

Jazza

Book I started reading this weekIs This Anything - Jerry SeinfeldSometimes you just need to laugh a little. Over the decades of being a stand up comic Seinfeld wrote pages and pages of notes. He’d write down thoughts that could potentially be jokes. This is a book filled with his notes. Some are cheesy but most are hilarious.

Podcast I LOVED this weekJohn Doerr - Tim Ferriss ShowJohn Doerr is an extremely successful investor and author of the book Measure What Matters. In this podcast, Tim draws out so much brilliant wisdom from Doerr. The pod is primarily about Doerr’s new book about how we can put into action trying to unfuck this planet. It’s an excellent podcast.Fanboy sidenote - I Tweeted about how good this pod was and Tim liked the Tweet.

What I read this week101 Guide to Crypto, DeFi and NFTs - Michael Batko

I’m sure it’s quite obvious to you at this point that I am extremely bullish on the future of Crypto and Web3. For any of you reading who are still overwhelmed, this resource from Michael is outstanding. Really simple explanations on all the topics you should get across. Enjoy

Sharing something beautiful

In line with John Doerr’s new book about our planet. Moments like these motivate me to do the little I can.

Jazza - Kruger National Park, SA